The current technology provides paper mailers, lined with plastic bubble-wrap, or more expensive foam, or foam-lined, boxes. These products are used primarily for shipping sensitive or fragile items, but suffer from the fact that they have extremely limited cushioning, no absorption properties, no antimicrobial properties and practically no temperature-control value.
Foam, or foam-lined, boxes are also used for shipping temperature-sensitive products, such as, medical samples, pharmaceuticals, chocolates, etc. These current products, in addition to being dramatically more expensive to purchase, warehouse, and ship (inbound and outbound freight), they are also more labor intensive, less user- and environmentally-friendly, and provide very limited protection during transit.
The most common thermally insulative material used is Styrofoam. Styrofoam is not biodegradable. Shaped containers (i.e. a Styrofoam cooler) are not collapsible. Shaped containers are more expensive to ship than flat boxes because they take more volume. Volume of shipping materials correlates to the cost of shipping of the materials.
Styrofoam containers have no absorptive qualities. Likewise, Styrofoam containers have no antimicrobial qualities. Accordingly, once a container is contaminated, any products subsequently inserted within the container will also become contaminated.